Many people will undoubtedly be very sympathetic with today’s New York Times article, “Customer Service: The Hunt for a Human“. Some will conclude that the increasing difficulty (or impossibility) of talking to a human being, much less one with any authority, is one of the major downsides of the Internet. I don’t feel that way. Have you ever felt a need to talk to someone at eBay or Amazon? I haven’t. Why? Because they do such a great job in meeting your needs that you don’t need to talk to a person. A few mouse clicks and you have accomplished your mission. The places where people get frustrated and want to talk to someone are the ones not fully meeting people’s needs. If they met your needs, you wouldn’t feel the need to talk to someone. It isn’t really that you want to talk to someone. You want to get the job done, item purchased, item returned, user manual, setup instructions, new software update, or whatever, with intuitive procedures, responsive web site, using whatever kind of device you happen to be connected to the Internet with, any time of day or night. That is On Demand and that is what people really want. If all the transactions you engaged in were handled in an On Demand fashion, there would be more time to take a motorcycle ride, stop at a Harley dealer, and talk to people about important things — like planning the next motorcycle ride.
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